Technology Outlook 2021

Members and guests enjoyed a lively and informative discussion featuring experts passionate about technology, its use and regulation at the IAA 2021 Technology Outlook session this week. Many attendees were keen to see ubiquitous, high bandwidth connectivity (either 5G or Starlink) for the myriad of nanotech and microchip manufacturer-driven IoT uses, but cautioned against the lack of security and privacy by design approaches, particularly when it comes to age and cognition appropriate services.

Benefits as simple as being able to visit a public venue have been achieved over the last year with simple online technology which perhaps should have come through national solutions, with better guarantees of privacy and security. Deplatforming was also a hot issue, with the need to balance between rights and service benefits highlighted. The prospect of more regulation on infrastructure providers in order to enforce content standards was considered likely, too.

Of news to most of us was hearing that “Data is not an object of property rights”, apparently property law doesn’t actually run to “data”, so perhaps we technologists should stick to the nuts and bolts, bits and bytes of Internet service delivery. It was a great session, folks. Check out our events page if you want a re-run.

Of course, another huge thank you goes to our panellists: Professor Katina Michael, Trevor Long and Professor Lyria Bennet Moses for their tremendous insights. Once again, a rock star panel!